You are looking at the editor’s website for the Critical Finance Review (CFR). The editor is Ivo Welch (UCLA).

The CFR publishes leading academic research in all areas of financial economics. It is a high-prestige peer-reviewed free “boutique” journal. It only publishes 10-20 papers per year, but with paper quality comparable to the Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, and Review of Financial Studies. Its visibility (and presence in PhD courses) is second-to-none.

The CFR’s ultimate goal is to publish 25 papers per year, never 100—and to publish some more unconventional and interesting papers. In some ways, the CFR seeks to be as good but run differently than other outlets. It wants to be eclectic. Its special niche are critiques, but the CFR publishes many non-critiques.

Main Editor

Association Association

The AFA and to the SFS share my (Ivo Welch’s) goal. We want to make finance research better. Alas, to avoid long bureaucracy, I had to start the journal less formally.

The journal is now well established. Thus, I have offered to donate the CFR but both declined. I do not know why the AFA declined; the SFS declined because it is focusing on its own startup journals. (Not invented here?) If you feel strongly that the CFR should be owned by an association of which you are a member, feel free to voice your opinion to them.

I do not want to sell the CFR to Elsevier. This would be a last resort only.

I am committed to my goal of making finance research better, so I am committed to the CFR.

NOW Publishers

Profit?

The CFR itself not a non-profit company. Actually, it is not a for-profit company, either. It exists because the original editor thought that the existing journals let many good papers fall through the cracks—especially but not only critiques. The editor pays the expenses of the journal and has his reputation and money on the line. The editor’s long-term intent is to donate the journal to the profession (subject to making its existing publisher [NOW] whole).

Editorial Board

The editorial board is always changing but has been and continues to be of the highest quality.